Perfect Pairings & Recipes for
Herbes De Provence

Analysing hundreds of thousands of recipes uncovers herbes de Provence's optimal flavour pairings.
Herbes de Provence is marked by the flavours of rosemary and thyme. But look beneath its obvious bitterness and you'll discover a captivating symphony of softer notes, a whisper of resin, a hint of lavender, and subtle accents reminiscent of pine. These are the notes that lend it such remarkable, resonant depth. And the culinary wizardry begins when we seek out pairings that allow these notes to truly sing, to harmonise in unexpected and delightful ways.
To illuminate these harmonies, we embarked on an ambitious journey, analysing thousands of ingredients. Each was meticulously deconstructed across 150 distinct flavour dimensions, allowing us to pinpoint precisely which notes complement in both classic and unexpected ways. Our analysis reveals, for example, how lamb leg's ovine tones enrich herbes de Provence, and how duck's ferrous notes create a surprising synergy with its woody herbiness.
Flavour Profile Of Herbes De Provence Across 150 Dimensions Of Flavour
Flavour wheel chart showing the dominant flavour notes of Herbes de Provence: Rosemary, Resinous, Thyme, Lavender, Pine, Sage, Bay leaf, Eucalyptol, Basil, Camphor, Poivre, Balsam, Chamomile, Chlorophyll, Astringent, Gentian
An ingredient's flavour profile is determined by its core characteristics (e.g. herbal, floral, and spice) enhanced by layers of subtle aroma notes (outer bars). When pairing ingredients, aim for a mix of core traits to build balance, and select complementary aroma notes to create harmony.
The Secret Language of Flavour
To understand how flavour notes harmonise, we analysed more than 50,000 popular ingredient combinations. By exploring these pairings, we identified specific flavour notes that frequently occur together, indicating they share a harmonious relationship.
The Flavours That Harmonise With Rosemary Notes
Strength of Association Between Flavours
The flavours most associated with rosemary notes are: Gamey, Ferrous, Porcine, Fatty, Proteolytic, Poultry, Ovine, Glutamic, Potato, Chanterelle, Penicillium, Petrichor, Musky, Charred, Bovine.
Our analysis shows that the flavour of rosemary is strongly associated with the flavour of iron. This suggests we should look for ingredients with a ironny flavour, such as duck, when pairing with the rosemary accents of herbes de Provence.
The recipe below provides inspiration for pairing herbes de Provence with duck.
Harmonious Flavours Of Herbes De Provence
Just as our analysis indicated that rosemary and gamey flavour accents are commonly paired, we can identify the full profile of flavours that harmonise with each of the notes present in herbes de Provence. E.g. the resinous flavours of herbes de Provence are often used with starchy and sulfurous notes.
The notes associated with the various aroma accents of herbes de Provence can be seen highlighted in the pink bars below.
Flavour Profile Of Herbes De Provence And Its Complementary Flavour Notes
Flavour wheel chart showing the dominant flavour notes of Herbes de Provence: Rosemary, Resinous, Thyme, Lavender, Pine, Sage, Bay leaf, Eucalyptol, Basil, Camphor, Poivre, Balsam, Chamomile, Chlorophyll, Astringent, Gentian
Matching Flavour Profiles
The flavour profile of lamb leg offers many of the aroma accents complementary to herbes de Provence, including ovine and fatty aroma notes. Because the flavour profile of lamb leg has many of the of the features that are complementary to herbes de Provence, they are likely to pair very well together.
Prominent Flavour Notes Of Lamb Leg Are Represented By Longer Bars
Flavour wheel chart showing the dominant flavour notes of Lamb leg: Ovine, Adipose, Caramel, Iron, Lactic, Proteolytic, Fungus, Glutamic, Buttery, Grassy, Gamey
The chart above shows the unique profile of lamb leg across 150 dimensions of flavour, while the recipes below offer inspiration for bringing these flavours together with herbes de Provence.
Recipes That Pair Herbes De Provence With Lamb Leg
Linked Flavour Notes
Looking at the accents that are most strongly associated with the various flavours of herbes de Provence, we can identify other ingredients that are likely to pair well.
Herbes De Provence's Harmonious Flavours And Complementary Ingredients
Herbes de Provence's Strongest Flavours
Complementary Flavours
Ingredients with Complementary Flavours
Flavour groups:
Nectarous
Floral
Herbal
Vegetal
Maillard
Earthy
Carnal
The left side of the chart above highlights the aroma notes of herbes de Provence, along with the complementary aromas associated with each note. While the right side shows some of the ingredients that share many of the aromas complementary to herbes de Provence.
What To Drink With Herbes De Provence
The fatty notes in chorizo-infused beer make it a perfect pairing with herbes de provence. Likewise, the glutamic flavours in pecorino create a match made in heaven. Explore a variety of ingredients below that beautifully complement the unique character of herbes de provence below.
Which Vegetables Go With Herbes De Provence?
Choose vegetables that infuse with its resinousness or ground its turpentine sweetness. Flat mushroom offers vibrant, clean counterpoints, its verdant freshness lifting the palate. White mushroom add a gentle, oniony brightness, while mushroom introduces a sophisticated, anise-tinged elegance.
Alternatively, embrace vegetables that harmonise with herbes de Provence's turpentiness. The addition of tomato, with its subtle glutamic notes, can complement the resin beautifully. Grape tomato bridges earthiness and citrus zest, while black olive lends a savoury richness.
How Flavonomics Works
We've pioneered a unique, data-driven approach to decode the intricate art of flavour pairing. Our goal is to move beyond intuition and uncover the science of why certain ingredients harmonise beautifully. This rigorous methodology allows us to provide you with insightful and reliable pairing recommendations.
Our analysis begins with over 50,000 carefully selected recipes from acclaimed chefs like Galton Blackiston, Marcello Tully, and Pierre Lambinon. This premium dataset ensures our model distils genuine culinary excellence and creativity.
Each ingredient from these recipes is deconstructed across 150 distinct flavour dimensions, creating a unique numerical "flavour fingerprint." This quantification allows us to apply advanced analytical methods to identify complex patterns between flavour notes.
We identify popular ingredient combinations that frequently appear in our recipe database. Regression analysis is then performed on these pairings to statistically validate and pinpoint truly harmonious flavours.
These insights drive our predictive model, which allows us to take any ingredient (e.g., Herbes de Provence), analyse its detailed flavour profile, and accurately reveal its complementary flavours and perfect ingredient partners.
Explore More
Discover more ingredient profiles and expand your culinary knowledge. Each ingredient page offers detailed analysis of flavour profiles, pairing insights, and culinary applications.
The content on our analysis blog is semi-automated. All of the words were manually written by a human, but the content is updated dynamically based on the data.